O.K. now I have TWO chickens in the house!

a couple of weeks ago I brought my elderly BO Kate Smith in because she had gotten alarmingly skinny. I had her in for a couple of days, fed her good and I thought she felt a little meatier (for lack of a better word, I don't eat my pets) so I put her back in the coop in a crate with a heat lamp for one night and she seemed fine but after observing her I felt she wasn't eating. So I brought her in again and now the temps average in the single digits to twenties, night and day, so I don't want to put her back out until we get a warm stretch of weather . Anyway this morning one of my EE's was walking funny, like she was dragging her butt a bit and I picked her up and looked and her beautiful fluffybutt was covered with dried poo! A lot of it!! I didn't have time to do anything this morning so when I got home about an hour ago, I brought her in, put her in a tub, and washed her poor little poopy fluffybutt. So now it's 3:30, I dried her with a hair drier a bit but she is still wet and I put her in with Kate Smith. (the EE is one of the lovely Lennon Sisters BTW). So do I keep her in overnight so she has a chance to dry and when I put her back should she go in the crate with the heat lamp? and I want to put Kate Smith back too but now she's been in the house for about a week and I'm afraid to put her back in because it's so cold. And I do obsess about all of them (25) being cold, they have two heat lamps but even with those it's still about 20 in the coop when its 6 outside. help! I just LOVE my chooks!

I agree with chookchick. Doing a dramatic temp change would not be easy on Kate Smith.

One concern I have is about the poo that stuck to the feathers. Why did it happen? Did she have a case of diarrhea? Does she seem healthy now? It might be nothing to worry about, but I'd hate to disregard the possibility. You seem to be assuming Kate Smith's weight is down because she's getting old. Is your EEs weight down also? What about the other girls? Has there been a recent change in diet? It would be terrible if there was an illness going through your flock.

no change in diet and everyone seems fine, but the EE I have in the house, her bottom, the part under the vent seems swollen. And I went out and checked for other poopy butts and there are 3 EE's and 1 RIR with dried poop. OMG, It never occured to me that they might be ill . Now I'm scared! I love my babies! Any ideas?

wow! thank you so much! now on top of this one of my zebra finches is dying! and I got a good look at the EE's poop. I think it's worms and I think I read somewhere that if you can see them, it's really bad! now I'm really scared AND I think she is eggbound!

Okay, it sounds like things are piling up on you. I'm new myself but I can offer some suggestions.

First: Kate Smith. BO are big birds, EE's tend to be a bit smaller yet Kate weighs less than your EE so she might be a tad underweight. But you know her best, listen to your instincts. If you think she should stay in the house for a bit; keep her in and figure out a way to acclimate her.

The EE. Worms can be eliminated; carefully. You'll want to do a Wazine (piperazine)dosage first, not the heavy hitting Ivemectin. Worm with piperazine once, then again in 10 days because it won't kill larvae.

Chances are if one bird has worms, they all do and you'll need to get the whole flock.

There are some really good thread on here about internal parasites and solutions to things like being egg bound. You can go to the search option.

I'm sorry that all this is happening to you, good luck.

I only have six chickens but I've taken to feeding them a small portion of organic, grass-fed ground beef. Each bird gets a portion about the size of the top of my index finger once a week, twice when the temperatures go below 10 degrees. I've heard that it helps with protein, can put weight on them and gives them a bit of fat. I feed mine raw meat, others recommend cooking it.